


we'll find in each other the things that we need

by rosefox



Category: Jolene (Song) - Dolly Parton
Genre: Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, F/F, Fluff, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Post-Canon, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-09 09:54:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16447625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefox/pseuds/rosefox
Summary: Three years later, Phoebe and Jolene are in, of all places, Philadelphia. And to Phoebe's surprise, she's really happy.





	we'll find in each other the things that we need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thehumantrampoline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehumantrampoline/gifts).



"So, how'd the two of you meet?" says the woman in the fairy wings. She has a broad, cheerful face beneath the flower-garland headband. Phoebe suspects she's the office mom. Jolene introduced her but Phoebe's already forgotten her name. 

"It's a long story," Jolene says smoothly before Phoebe can open her mouth. Phoebe would roll her eyes, but Jolene told her to behave herself, so she settles for taking a long sip of her red wine. It's not great wine, but it's free, which is why they go to Jolene's office Halloween party. Phoebe's boss is a cheapskate.

"You're such a cute couple," the office mom coos. "In matching costumes and everything." 

"That was Jolene's idea," Phoebe says, "but I sure had fun getting into it." Auburn-haired, green-eyed Jolene makes a stunning Poison Ivy, and Phoebe is very pleased with her Penguin costume. She'd much rather dress as someone paunchy than try to stuff her pear-shape into Spanx, and doing "costume research" gave her an excuse to watch old _Batman_ episodes for a few weeks, which really meant watching Adam West's butt in tights. (She's married, not dead.)

Barbara, that's the office mom's name. _Like Barbara Gordon_ , Phoebe thinks. Names are easier with mnemonics, and if she's got _Batman_ on the brain, she might as well use it.

Jolene wraps a vine-covered arm around Phoebe's shoulders and steals her wine. "Hey," Phoebe says, grinning. She loves when they do cute-couple-y things in public. 

"Hold that pose!" Barbara says, whipping out her phone. Phoebe sticks her cigarette holder in her mouth, and Jolene looks extra sultry (not difficult). Barbara takes a photo that will undoubtedly go in the next office newsletter.

Phoebe puts the cigarette holder back in her pocket; keeping it clenched between her teeth gets old. "I'm gonna get another glass of wine, since you got green lipstick all over mine," she says. Jolene smirks, unrepentant, and waves her in the direction of the bar.

Drink acquired, Phoebe does her favorite thing to do at parties: she finds a nice stretch of wall, puts her back against it, and watches the crowd, looking for patterns in people's movements and trying to identify relationships from body language. There's Jolene's boss, standing very close to his secretary; are they having an affair? And now Barbara is deliberately stepping between them. _Bet there's a story there_ , Phoebe thinks, sipping her wine. She's good at making up stories. 

Her phone buzzes. She pulls it out of her pocket (pockets are her number one reason to dress as men on Halloween), expecting a "where'd you go?" text from Jolene, but it's from Dan. It says "HAPPPPY HALLOWEEENEN" and then there's a photo of him dressed as a baked potato. Just a giant baked potato with arms and legs sticking out of the foil jacket and his drunk, grinning face above a big plastic pat of butter. What even the fuck.

Jolene shows up and leans against the wall next to her. "What's making you look like that?" she asks. Phoebe shows her the photo. "Is that Dan? Good Lord. There's something wrong with that boy."

"There must've been something wrong with me," Phoebe says, shaking her head.

"Oh, don't you start," Jolene says. "You sure you want that?" She nods to the glass of wine.

Phoebe considers it and then hands it over to Jolene, who drinks half of it and puts it down on a table. "You listen to me," she says, taking the phone and sliding it back into Phoebe's pocket. "There is _nothing_ wrong with you. Nothing. You two were good for each other until you weren't, and now you've got me and I've got you and we're here and he's there. And that's all."

Phoebe takes off her ridiculous purple top hat so she can lean her head against Jolene's shoulder. So much has changed in her life over the past few years. It still hasn't fully sunk in.

Phoebe's good at making up stories. One time she even had a whole story made up about how Jolene was going to steal Dan away from her. Turns out Jolene had a very different story in mind, and Phoebe liked that one a lot better. And somehow that led to them living in Philadelphia, of all places, and making more money than she knew a person could earn by legal means, and wearing _Batman_ villain costumes at a fancy office party where people comment on her accent but no one remarks on two women wearing matching wedding rings.

"Thank you for rescuing me," she says. "From Dan. From the sticks. From myself."

Jolene pulls her upright and kisses her cheek, leaving a perfect green lip print right below her monocle. "Thank you for letting me," she says. "Can I rescue you from this party too?"

Phoebe nods and takes her hand. "My Jolene," she says, still amazed that it's true, and they slip away into the night.


End file.
